From Whence Came Darkness?
by Trins xxx
Summary: AU from Slither onwards. Nick's drowned and the demon inside him is dead, but Dawn ensures that he lives. What chaos will this lead to? Future chapters will focus more on the teenagers.


**Disclaimer****:** I don't own The Secret Circle.

**Author's Note****:** So I thought Nick's tenure on the show was too short, and I would have absolutely loved to see the drama if he had survived (and we had an estranged older brother returning and becoming a member of the circle and oh-the-drama). So anyway, this is my little entry into the AU world of The Secret Circle. Prepare for plots and twists and teen tantrums and tears and drama (to say the least). Please tell me what you think, and feel free to request or advice me as my story continues - I don't promise to incorporate everything you suggest but I will reply to it all. Enjoy!

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><p><span>From Whence Came Darkness?<span>

Chapter I

"_The camera cannot lie, but it can be an accessory to untruth."_

_~ Harold Evans ~_

The noises were muffled in her ears, overshadowed by the thudding of her heart. He looked so damn young – poor, little Nick. It seemed supremely unfair that out of all the children, it should be Nick to get possessed, when he had been through so much already. However she did thank the stars and every god and goddess she could think of that it hadn't been Faye. She wouldn't ever forgive herself if Faye had been dragged into this mess.

"He's dead." She forced her eyes to focus on Charles. He looked as sick as she felt right now, and she felt the stirrings of pity.

Her arms and legs felt heavy but she made herself move, one step at a time, towards the body that had been Nick. Nick's brother had abandoned him too, Dawn realised. Both parents dead, Jake gone... It wasn't a total surprise that the demon had chosen Nick but this didn't assuage her guilt in anyway whatsoever.

"He's dead," Charles whispered again, horrified. His voice sounded as though he was being strangled, Dawn thought, shuddering.

"Let's sort it out then," Dawn found herself whispering tremulously. It didn't sound like her at all.

They dragged his body out of the water, so immobile, so very dead but Dawn was determined to bring him back to life. She refused to let innocent children die. Dawn kneeled down by his head on autopilot, tilting his chin back. She didn't think twice about pinching his nose and, opening his mouth, she put hers to it. Breathe in, breathe out. _Come on Nick. You have to breathe_. Breathe in... _She willed him to breathe. _Breathe out. Nothing.

She placed her right hand over her left and the both of them over Nick's chest. _Please Nick. Please._ She pushed down on his chest – one third for it to be effective she thought, her heart hurting as much as his wasn't beating. She pushed down and down and down and counted in her head. _One...two...three..._ And so on and so forth, until she reached thirty. He _wasn't_ going to die, not if she had anything to do with it, which she did. She had far too much to do with the situation poor Nick was in now.

"Call the ambulance." Her voice wavered as she ordered Charles. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. _Nick still wasn't breathing._

She moved her hands onto his chest, ready to start the compressions again, dimly aware that voices were getting closer – _Jane?_ – but she was going to save Nick; she was damned if there would be another innocent death.

"Any luck?" She barely heard Charlie's hushed voice but she shook her head any way, hoping that maybe it would remove the fog in her head too.

"Not yet," she whispered before her mouth found Nick's, willing that the air she breathed into him would let him breathe. _One... Two..._ Her hands moved to his chest, uncomfortably aware that it would take a lot of luck and maybe dark magic to convince people of her non-involvement, if they found her in this situation. _One... Two... Three..._ Her hands were suddenly stalled, Charles roughly grabbing them. She look at him, startled and angry, only to find him staring at Nick. As she looked back down at Nick, her throat became painfully clogged.

Breathing raggedly and awkwardly coughing small amounts of water up, Nick was looking away from her and _god_ she was so _relieved_. He wasn't _dead_...or at least not anymore, she mentally corrected herself.

Charles' rough and ready hands grabbed her by the arms and pulled her up. She wasn't sure how they walked away – _stumbled_, really – but before she knew it, she was out of sight and couldn't see Nick anymore. She could hear the voices – definitely Jane and was that Cassie too? A surge of revulsion flooded her body, effectively clearing the fog in her head. With effort, she pushed the feelings aside

"We need to be more careful."

Dawn was relieved that Charles sounded more like himself now. "Yes. We can't let anything like that happen again. We're lucky we managed to save Nick. If we hadn't..."

Well, if they hadn't, Jake would have been called in and there was more than one reason why she'd prefer him to stay away, the main one being Faye.

"We could have always used magic."

And just like that, the panic and surrealism faded as irritation flooded Dawn's body. "And what would happen if we used up all the magic before everything was in place?" She snapped. Ignoring his look for contrition, she began walking away. She was still hopeful that Nick hadn't seen that it was Charles who drowned him or herself that resuscitated him but just in case he had, she needed plausible deniability; if she could be far away from the whole situation, she and Charles could provide alibis for each other. It wasn't ideal but it was the best she could come up with under the circumstances.

"You really do care about the kids, don't you?"

The wonder in Charles' voice grated on her already frayed nerves. Why the _hell_ was everyone so surprised when she showed a softer side to herself? Just because she wasn't full of hysterics like _Amelia _had been...

"We're doing all of this _for them_." Her words were clipped short. "That's the whole point, isn't it?"

She slipped back into the crowds, careful to keep her face neutral. She could sense Charles following closely behind her. She understood the necessity but she would have dearly loved to be alone right then.

"Sit down with me," she ordered under her breath, taking a seat at a nearby table and carefully avoiding his eyes. She didn't dare meet them right now. Drinks were ordered quickly and she had just taken her mug of hot coffee into her shaking hands when she saw Jane enter the building.

She looked as if she'd aged a decade and when her roaming eyes finally spotted Dawn and Charles, she walked purposefully towards them.

This wasn't going to be easy, Dawn thought grimly as she forced an expression of confused concern onto her face. She had to play the cards just right.

"Jane, is everything okay?"

Lowering her voice, Jane said tersely, "It's Nick. He was possessed. We need to have a serious discussion."

Dawn widened her eyes plausibly as Charles went into action. "Is he okay? And what about Diana?"

"He's fine. Diana, Adam and Cassie are with him right now."

"And Faye?" Dawn had no need to fake the concern in her voice. There was more than one danger out there and she had to _know_ that Faye was safe. Receiving a confirmation, she allowed herself to become more business-like. "Why don't we meet all of them now and discuss what's been happening."

For a brief moment, Jane's eyes narrowed as they observed her but when she spoke, her voice appeared free from suspicion. "I think we should have this discussion tomorrow." Overriding Charles' interruption, she continued, "I think it's probably best for the kids to rest. Nick nearly drowned and I'm sure Melissa needs time to recover from being possessed-"

"Melissa?" Charles and Dawn echoed her, both dumbfounded.

"Yes." Jane's face seemed older than it ever had before. "And then we can discuss what needs to be done. You know the dangers fully well." Her eyes again rested on Dawn for a pregnant moment. "I'm going to go make sure all the kids are fine now."

They all got up to leave, Dawn volunteering to make sure Melissa and Faye were okay.

A couple of hours later found Dawn alone in her bedroom, exhausted and staring blankly at the wall. _I wish you were here with me, Tommy._ She looked at the photo of when they had just gotten engaged – the wide grins on their faces and their glittering eyes. They'd thought they had the rest of their lives to spend with each other.

They hadn't.

She blinked back tears that had suddenly appeared. She missed him damnably but some days, like today when Faye could have been in danger, were worse than others. He'd loved Faye _so _much. He'd been irritatingly and insanely proud that she had his dark hair rather that Dawn used to threaten to dye her hair blonde, just for the sake of it.

God, she missed those simpler times _so much_; when it was easy to stay on the right side of road, no moral greyness to concern them. But, she thought with her back straightening sharply, there was no time now for doubts or concerns. The path she chose may lead her to hell, but if it protected Faye and the other kids, she wouldn't care. She'd serve her time proudly, if she knew they'd been kept safe.

With those thoughts, she switched the light off and went to bed, blissfully unaware that tomorrow would complicate things more than she had ever imagined possible.


End file.
